Looking for advice on buying my first M1A

Welcome.

Springfields have a great warranty, and many are very happy with their rifles. Many have used their lifetime service warranty several times. I have no personal experience, but my uncle has his serviced after 400 rnds.

Best value and quality right now is definitely LRBarms.com LRB receivers are USA forged (the best) and Lou and his team are putting together complete rifles now!!!!! They are $2,000 and worth every penny.

I decided on a LRB build before they started selling complete rifles. my bush rifle will be a LRB receiver with USGI TRW Op rod, trigger group, and 2 TRW bolts in woodstalker camo synthetic with 18" barrel, unitized gas system and SEI parts with stripper guide modified ARMS18.
I'm spending alot more money too.

Fulton Armory rifles are reportedly very nice, but a long wait.
Others are Armscorp, Norinco/Poly, and others
Custom builds by Warbird, Ted Brown, Smith Enterprises, etc..

Good luck.

I paid about $1,150 for my Springfield M-1A with a synthetic stock (excluding accessories).

I would recommend the Springfield M-1A Scout model with a synthetic stock. The barrel is 18 inches and it's all you need with this rifle.

I wish I would have bought my M-1A with an 18 inch barrel rather than a 22 inch barrel. Other than that I love the rifle I have.

Advice on accessories: Buy atleast four more twenty round magazines for your rifle. Make sure they are United States G.I. magazines.

Also don't pay more than $40 a piece for extra magazines. Avoid aftermarket magazines. All the aftermarkets I have ever bought were junk. I buy my magazines off Gunbroker.com or AuctionArms.com from people with atleast fifteen good feedbacks.

I would also advise against buying 5 round magazines for the rifle. They are so dinky small you have a hard time getting them in or out. Block out a 10 round magazine so it will only take 5 rounds if you want to take your rifle with you hunting.

Hope that helps.

First off, thanks for the welcome and replies everyone.

huntinghawk:
I would like to scope the rifle, though perhaps not immediately after getting it. I'd like to get used to it and the iron sights first. One of the many reasons I decided to get an M1A is because I'll always have iron sightd to fall back on, with many modern day rifles capable of long distance shooting there are no iron sights.

My normal range will probably be 300 yards or more as I'm moving to a mountainous area in a couple of years where I will be doing most of my hunting. I'll also probably do some longer distance target shooting. The range of the long distance target practice will probably end up being dictated by how far out the rifle and ammo can maintain decent accuracy.


MrUREasy:
Thanks for welcoming me.

M14 LOVER & 1911_Mitch:
I haven't spoken to anyone who has shot a M1A manufactured by LRB. What did you think of their accuracy? Would you both rate LRB's rifle as being better and having more accuracy than Fultons? Is the $2,000 they cost MSRP or the actual retail price?

2nd_Amendment_Defender:
I looked at the Scout model as well and while definitely an appealing gun, I have no idea as to how it's accuracy holds up to the SA's Loaded and better M1As. What kind of accuracy are you getting? I also thimk it may be in my interest to get one with a longer barrel than the scouts as I'll be doing some long range shooting.

Justshoot:
Sounds like you found a good deal. If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for it? Did it have any work done to it after it's original purchase to accurize it? I've been trying to find out what kind of accuracy to expect from various M1As (especially the SA Loaded), you are the first to report.


If any of you have knowledge of M1 Tankers, would you mind looking at my post in the M1 Carbines section? I found an M1 Tanker today and due to hearing they were rare, good guns I put it on layaway, but I really don't know much about them, if it was a wise investment, or what they are worth.

Welcome aboard. You're gonna love this rifle like a fat kid loves cake.

I recommend your first m1a be the full sized rifle, as opposed to a scout or SOCOM 16. Appreciate the rifle as originally intended. There's nothing the Scout/socom can do that the rifle can't, but the opposite is not always true.


As much as you study the rifle pre-purchase, I would also caution you to study the issues on m1a magazines very carefully. There are a lot of crappy mags out there, masquerading as USGI. Some are USGI shells, but have bogus followers and springs that seem to have come from gram-pappy's chime clock.

I tell ya, magazines can totally make or break a rangeday. It isn't like an AK where any mag you find will fit, and run right.

See our other thread in the firing line

http://www.m-14forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=12932

This was a problem I had that turned out to be mag related.

Someday, a decent, affordable magazine will be available for this rifle. Ttill then, learn from the research I didn't do.

--Fargo007

The Standard vs Scout is a hard choice. I know I wake up in the middle of the night with cold sweats and screaming SCOUT!!!!!(just kidding) But I love my standard M1A, well it was a standard when I bought anyway. But the real answer to the question is buy both. It's just up to you which one you buy first. You'll get the M14 fever just like the rest of us and it's always to your benefit to have more than one. I am about to purchase a new nitron P226 next month but am already looking at and making plans for the coming months at a new LRB Tanker or SA Scout. It's too hard to just stop at one. I find it better to not fight it and buy more!!!!!!
If you really only think that you'll be able to buy one, than you have to sum up what your most likely to use it for and how each suits that. The Scout/Tanker does seem like the perfect balance between range and mobility, but if you think your going to do more long range shots and probably never any close cramped shooting than the extra barrel length doesn't hurts. Just solve the battle though by buying both if you can and give some joy to a family member or friend by letting them go hunting with you and using one.